COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State fencing team heads to Indianapolis, Ind. for the 2017 NCAA Fencing Championships hosted by Notre Dame and the Indiana Sports Corp. Eleven fencers will don the scarlet and gray at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 23-26, including nine NCAA Championship veterans as well as two defending individual champions.

THE BUCKEYES AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPSOhio State looks to extend a 15-year streak of finishing in the Top 5 at NCAA Championships. Ohio State has earned three national titles throughout the streak, coming in first place in 2012, 2008 and 2004. The Buckeyes finished in second place at last year's NCAA Championships with 11 fencers, ahead of three teams with the maximum 12 fencers allotted - Princeton, St. John's and Notre Dame.

Last year's second place finish was the team's best finish since earning the national title in 2012. Head Coach Vladimir Nazlymov led the team to reach the awards podium six times, earning the first women's foil title since 1997 and the program's seventh men's foil title.

NCAA FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS FORMATThe competition will follow a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round robin, the top-four finishers will compete in 15-touch bouts for the semi-final round. The winners of the semi-final round will fence to determine first and second place, while the non-advancing fencers will tie for third place. Men's competition will take place March 23-24 and women's competition will follow on March 25-26.

Points earned by each individual student-athlete determine the overall team's place in the championships. A team is awarded one point for each individual victory.

ESPN3 COVERAGEA live feed of the semi-final and final bouts will be available on ESPN3 or the WatchESPN App. The semi-finals and finals, along with other championship highlights, will air on ESPNU at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time on April 5.

Live results throughout the weekend will be posted here. A recap of each day's competition will be posted on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

Ohio State's selections were based 60 percent on finish at the Midwest Regional on March 11, where the men's squad featured two first place performances. Lewis Weiss claimed first place for the third straight year, and Maximilien Chastanet took his second career Midwest Regional title, the first coming from 2014.

No. 7 WOMEN'S TEAMThe women's team is currently ranked at No. 7 from CollegeFencing360.com's ranking from March 9, but still found success at this year's MFC Championships, taking back its position as champion from No. 8 Northwestern. The unit qualified five fencers, with defending individual foil champion Eleanor Harvey among the group.